Value of crypto ICOs in Europe vs US and Asia

Fabric Ventures

• The value of “token sales” in Europe this year is about
  $4.1 billion, far above the $2.6 billion in the US and $2.3
  billion raised in Asia.
• Until the crash of 2008 it was the banking industry
  that siphoned off Europe’s top minds. Not anymore.

In the race to be the world’s dominant crypto region, European
countries are crushing their peers in the US and Asia.

The value of “token sales” in Europe this year is about $4.1
billion, far above the $2.6 billion in the US and $2.3 billion
raised in Asia. In a token sale — also known as an
“initial coin offering,” or ICO — a quantity of cryptocurrency is
sold in the form of “tokens.” See Europe’s ICO
dominance in the chart below: 

Fabric Ventures

Fabric Ventures, a VC fund, released a report today outlining some
of the reasoning behind Europe’s token cash boom. 

More developers

According to Stack Overflow, Europe houses 5.5 million developers
compared to 4.4 million in the US. And European universities
churn out twice as many STEM PhDs as the US. The technical talent
has always been there, but until the crash of 2008 it was the
banking industry that syphoned off the top minds. Not anymore.
“With this wave that’s democratizing access to capital, the
technical talent doesn’t need to migrate to the US to raise
venture capital and build global companies,” the report
said. 

Favourable regulation 

France “won’t
miss out on the blockchain revolution,” according
to economy minister Bruno Le Maire, and wants to become a
global hub for ICOs. Switzerland
has set out similar goals, while the UK has created a

crypto assets task force. 

The report says it has become a fierce competition to offer “the
most founder-friendly & forward thinking regulatory
environment for decentralized networks and their native
crypto-assets.”

The nature of European “city-states”

Europe has 50 countries, and some of those economies are small.
And, frankly, some aren’t doing so great. Any budding company in
Europe knows it needs to spread internationally from Day One to
avoid the traps of small domestic economies. Diverse and
multinational teams have become the standard.